WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Monday to review the case of an Oklahoma City woman who received a life sentence in 2009 for shoplifting.

Cecilia Cathleen Rodriguez

Without comment, the court rejected the appeal of Cecilia Cathleen Rodriguez, whose life sentence was imposed by an Oklahoma County judge because of a long list of previous convictions.

Rodriguez’s appeal was her second to the high court; in 2012, the justices sent the case back to Oklahoma and ordered a review of whether she had received adequate legal assistance when she entered a “blind plea” to charges of stealing two purses from a Dillard’s department store.

An Oklahoma County judge ruled that Rodriguez understood when she rejected a plea agreement of 17 years in prison that she could receive a sentence ranging from four years to life.

Her attorney explained that to her while also trying to negotiate with Oklahoma County prosecutors for a better deal, the judge ruled.

The judge said he also explained to Rodriguez that entering a blind plea meant she was leaving her sentence to the judge’s discretion.

Rodriguez asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review her case a second time, claiming that the sentence was excessive and her lawyer ineffective.

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Chris Casteel began working for The Oklahoman's Norman bureau in 1982 while a student at the University of Oklahoma. After covering the police beat, federal courts and the state Legislature in Oklahoma City, he moved to Washington in 1990, where...